Its hard working in a fast food type place, especially when its lined up to the door and your short staffed, but the days go really quick and it's pretty fun for the most part, better than working in a clothes shop thats for sure I don't flip burgers or toss donuts though

Self employed obviously, although officially we are employed by our incorporation.
Vacation- you just have to get in the mind set of looking at yearly income, not what's comes in every 2 weeks. Dr TT will make enough over a year to allow for holiday and he has to take it, the stress of his job/ huge responsibilities will wear him down if he doesn't
Sick pay, life insurance, critical illness you need.
We have some good ones from the UK we keep current, plus some useless ones we need to ditch soon as not appropriate for here. BC have a great one for income via Doctors of BC , we should have arranged it on arrival but I've just done the forms!!!
Pension, we brought over our NHS ones earlier this year, are keeping up with UK state pensions as not too far from full enhanced pension.We are also saving and investing money as we can and have decided to become landlords, our accountants says we should be one level above a slum landlord to make most money!!!! Not sure I can quite do that, I want to rent out decent , clean places and be fair. But it will give us income during retirement plus the properties will have the loans paid for by the renters. You have to be proactive re your retirement unlike when employed by the NHS, it's taken us a while to really take this on board.

Now, health care, have just been sorting this. We have extended health care for our employees at work, but we agreed that we , the GPs would only use for cheap stuff,physio, cheap dental, odd meds. As you learn, the schemes are just a way of taking money from the employer to pay the bills of the employee, with the insurance company taking a cut. Bills rise, we pay more.

So with an orthodontic bill of $8000 to pay, we looked at companies who basically work as a private health services plan, they reimburse you, it goes through your incorporation but they take a 10% cut. Our accountant said it's possible to do ourselves, as long as we are employed by our incorporation. We have our lawyer drawing up the documents needed by the CRA. We have to keep the bills to an amount the CRA will accept, she suggests $12000 a year. She suggests thats the kind of figure an employee may expect per year from a scheme. We can pay our medical expenses direct from our business, no one gets a 10% cut apart my accountant and lawyer to set it up initially. I'm not sure if it's then a business expense, must ask my accountant!! Have a chat with your accountant.

Honestly I think we're in a very different position to you guys.. But will message you privately. On a public note, the liberal government have announced that they're overspent on the health budget and they will clawback money from all doctors in Ontario. They will decide how much at the end of the year and then tell doctors and take it. Best scenario is 1% of overall earnings even though no doctor receives overall earnings. Worst scenario 10% and don't get paid for a month or two. If that happens there is absolutely no question that we will be returning home.

No we have just been here longer!!!
At your point, our heads were spinning trying to make sense of it all. It will happen, all the other docs here are similar to us, including the single earners.
Re the pay, Ontario docs are paid the highest in Canada, with a pay cut, it will bring them down to maybe BC rates, still enough, no reason to leave!

Without causing any offence, you have no idea what my husband earns, how much we pay in overheads, how much I used to earn and haven't had a second income in nearly two years and what we have or don't have rather in savings and pension. I could quite happily go home because I hate the stress of money here. Can you honestly say you wouldn't feel super stressed about money being told that quite possibly there will be no income at all for the next two months and having no control over it? How on earth can we put anything away for a pension or savings with that happening.

I wanted to go home for a holiday at Christmas this year but we genuinely can't afford to. That alone makes it not worth staying here.

Is there not an option for your husband to become an employee?

Aside from a small pension, our business income is for 8 months a year and negative the other 4 months. One budgets and gets used to it.

If one has enough notice one can prepare for it, if it is thrust upon you it would be much harder to accommodate.

She is only responding to your question and giving an opinion in a position of having worked as a family physician for 6 years- and trying to help. We work with a doc who is the sole breadwinner, family physician and the partner (husband) keeps things in order at home.

Why no income for two months? You are righ twe dont know the details of your finances/Dr TT's income but we are aware of relative pay scales across Canada and Ontario are at the top, BC pretty near the bottom- I do however have a strong hunch that earnings would be hugely less even if you were working in the UK alongside hubby with his ever shrinking pay packet.
I am aware of your hankering for UK shores and missing home and I get that- maybe that call is getting stronger and stronger??

Still at the top I don't know? We never compared. Earlier this year the government implemented cuts, so fee for service pay went down, new patient fee gone and education funding gone too. Ok fair enough cuts need to be made. But the government have returned to the table and said the books still aren't going to balance, to balance them we are going to take the rest from the money you've earnt this year (total earnings). They don't know how much they need to take yet so we have no idea whether it will amount to 1% or 10% clawback... Just that in January and February the husband might work the entire time and not get paid as the government take back the money.. Hence the two possible months without any sort of income at all.

So for example we receive a $1000 income, we pay 30% in overheads that leaves us with 700 the government then say they want 10% we then lose another 100. So we're at 600 before we even consider the tax man, pension, living costs, savings, life assurance, critical illness, dental costs etc. We are worse off here taking into account my salary by about $36,000 compared to our UK salaries.

That's fine, we're good but does it make up for me not being able to work as an RN, does it make up for missing friends and family, when we have to consider that because the government want money they've already paid to us back we can't go back to see everyone. If we're not actually better off, then it's time to consider if this is the place for us. The longer we stay though the harder it gets, I have many friends and things I'd miss here now..

You are damned if you do and you are damned if you don't!
I think that the NHS has deteriorated significantly even in the short time that you have been away. Negotiations will be resolved in time- I get that it is worrying for you both especially with the uncertainty. You are going to miss people whatever choice you make. I'm not sure that the grass is truly greener on the other side but you are in the same position of questioning your point of being here. This, after you have the go ahead for the exam. Life can be weird sometimes. Is it pre Wallaby match nerves???

Welcome to life in North America, millions of workers are in the same boat, if a pension and savings isn't viable, best to not sit and stress over it, that's just how life is.

Anytime one relies on government for income be it doctors, or nurses, or any provider, to the little people like us on disability, the hand that gives also takes, politicians don't like raising taxes, pisses less people off to claw back funds then to raises taxes on everyone.


Can you move to the US? Might be able to make more money working as an employee doctor at a place like Kaiser?

Not just North America, all over the world and certainly in our field in the UK as well. Working in US in America... nigh impossible I would say- and nor would personally I want to.- Just my opinion!

Bahaha might be...

Actually we had decided we would wait and see how we felt after going home and whether I pass the exam or not but now the going home thing won't happen. We have applied for my son's place in secondary school though with his friends. Just hedging our bets at the moment..

Sounds like the rest of the world may not be a whole lot better...

I was just curious if the US would be an option for a doc in Canada, I haven't a clue, but thought I'd toss the idea out...

And of course you're right, it's the same everywhere... My fb feed full of UK and Ontario docs moaning demonstrate that. But just one little point- in the UK we don't have to spend thousands of dollars flying home to see everyone plus better the devil you know. The potential for my career advancement is way better in the UK compared to becoming an RPN here..